Laurel police said two current and one former Radio Shack employee have been charged with stealing more than $55,000 in cash and goods from a store in Laurel on two occasions.

Police were called to the Laurel Radio Shack in the 900 block of Washington Boulevard around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, where an employee told officers that the store was robbed.

Advertisement

The employee said the robber went into the store, waited for customers to leave, went into the back and turned off the electricity at the breaker panel, as well as cut out the store surveillance DVR system. The employee said the robber then assaulted him and stole cash and mobile phones.

Detectives said one of the stolen phones had a GPS tracking device that sent its location to police, so patrol officers were able to find the vehicle containing it on Laurel Bowie Road. The driver, David Jamaar Dean, 23, of Temple Hills, was taken into custody.

Investigators said they noticed similarities between that morning's incident and another robbery at the same Radio Shack on June 25 in which $27,000 worth of goods and cash were taken.

Detectives said Juan Abner Ramirez-Almodovar, 24, of Laurel, was the Radio Shack employee who was there during the June robbery, and Dean was a former employee of the store, so both were brought in for questioning.

Police said they determined through those interviews that the pair had coordinated the bogus robberies in advance and involved a third store employee, Reginald Fletcher, 22, of Temple Hills, in the plans.

The missing store DVR system was found in a dumpster near the Radio Shack, officials said, and detectives were able to recover footage of the December incident. A search of Dean's vehicle also found $28,000 in cash and mobile phones, police said.

All three men were arrested and face multiple felony counts of theft, conspiracy and related charges.